Is Tugade connected with Jack Lam? Critics want him probed

Members of the Oust Tugade Movement want Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade probed over his alleged ties with gambling tycoon Jack Lam. JOVIC YEE/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

A newly formed coalition calling for the ouster of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade urged the government on Tuesday to include the official in its investigation of gambling tycoon Jack Lam, alleging of possible bribery incidents during his term as head of Clark Development Corp. (CDC).

Ray Junia, chair of Road Users Protection Advocates which is one of three groups that are part of the “Oust Tugade Movement,” said that the recent arrest of 1,316 illegal aliens working at Lam’s online gambling business in Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino and a subsequent alleged bribe try to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre “further put to doubt the integrity of Tugade.”

“By revealing the huge bribe offer, Secretary Aguirre could have inadvertently cast doubt on Tugade’s so-called success story simply because Lam had long been operating illegally at CDC but was left unhampered until lately when the new administration took over,” Junia said during the launch of the Oust Tugade Movement, which includes the Union of Filipino Workers and Rebolusyong Duterte.

READ: Probe gambling tycoon’s ‘ninong,’ Congress urged

Earlier, Lam’s counsel, Raymond Fortun, maintained that there was nothing illegal about the online gambling business inside Fontana’s luxurious villas because his client has obtained a license from the Cagayan Export Zone Authority (Ceza), the only entity outside of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) that could issue the special license.

Aguirre previously said that Lam, through former Senior Supt. Wally Sombero, attempted to bribe him to become the protector of his casino operations in the country, to the tune of as much as P100 million a month. He added that Pagcor chair Andrea Domingo was also offered a 1-percent share of Fontana’s monthly gross revenues, which Fortun has also denied.

READ: Aguirre: Gambling lord also tried to bribe Pagcor chair

Junia alleged that one of the reasons Lam and his business in Clark Freeport in Pampanga became “virtually untouchable…was because of huge sums of money that were changing hands during Tugade’s time at CDC.”

“It is common knowledge that CDC, like [Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority], operates like an independent republic, having its own police and security forces. It is impossible for illegal acts, especially in the magnitude of tens of billions of pesos, to happen without the top management of CDC not knowing of it and blinded. The blinders here easily cost hundreds of millions as reported by Secretary Aguirre,” Junia said.

Before becoming Mr. Duterte’s transport secretary, Tugade served as CDC’s president during the Aquino administration from 2012 to 2016./rga